Young entrepreneur's prize-winning wallet keeps fraudsters at bay

It is all too easy to become so involved in a business idea that you lose your
grip on reality.

The long hours, sleepless nights and personal sacrifices required to get new ventures off the ground can mean that entrepreneurs fail to recognise the moment they should realise that all their efforts will not reap the reward they are looking for.

It seems to me the ability to pause, take a step back and make a dispassionate assessment of progress is a key skill.

American Michael Aiello seems to have it in spades. The 26 year-old has just won "the people's vote" at the annual Oxford Entrepreneurs Idea Idol competition at Saïd Business School for his clever range of wallets and passport cases that protect their contents from remote skimming attacks.

Aiello came up with the idea while studying radio emission security at New York University. He quickly saw how anyone could pick up information from radio signal emitting devices simply by pointing an antenna at it, and the potential for fraud was huge. The explosion in use of radio frequency identification chips in passports, credit cards and work passes meant that the potential market was huge.

He has since sold around 80,000 wallets and holders that contain a hidden mesh to protect the chips. "I hope this year we will at least double that," says Aiello. He is studying for an MBA at Saïd as part of his personal development. The school's international reputation and one-year course attracted him, and the weak pound eased the pain of paying for it.

He is using his time in Britain to develop the business, signing up several distribution partners in the UK as well as building his existing network in the US.

His two-minute pitch to the judges of the Idea Idol and the 10 minutes of questions that followed won over the 300-strong audience.

The technology used by Aiello's DIFRwear products is certified by the US General Service Administration for use by security-cleared and military personnel IDs and a slide showing Sylvester Stallone in Rambo helped, he admits.

But despite his success, he hasn't let the acclaim cloud his judgment. When I ask what happens next, he says he has several options. "One could be working on the other side of the table of venture funding. The other could be to grow this company or sell this company to a larger competitor. Or it could be joining some part of a bank. It all depends where the world is at. As an MBA you have to decide on your objectives. Is it 'I want to run a medium-sized business' or 'Do I want a power position or non-profit position'?

"Mine is whatever is going to pay me in the medium to long term the most. Whatever has got the best opportunity."